NVIDIA has recently released its fastest GPU to date, the GeForce GTX 580. Let’s see how it compares to what was until then the fastest NVIDIA GPU, the GeForce GTX 480, and its competitors from AMD.

The video card we are reviewing is the reference model from NVIDIA. When a video card is first launched, all “manufacturers” buy their video cards already assembled from NVIDIA and only add their sticker to it. One or other manufacturer may add an overclocking, but physically all cards are absolutely identical. Only after a while manufacturers start launching customized solutions, changing the cooler and, sometimes, redesigning the printed circuit board.

The new GeForce GTX 580 can be found between USD 520 and USD 580, which puts it as the most expensive video card available on the market today. The Radeon HD 5970, which is the most powerful video card using an AMD GPU, can be bought for USD 500. In this review we will be comparing the GeForce GTX 580 to the GeForce GTX 480 and to the Radeon HD 5970. We also decided to compare the GeForce GTX 580 to two Radeon HD 6870 video cards in CrossFireX mode. Since each one of them cost around USD 260, this setup competes directly with the GeForce GTX 580.

In the table below we compare the main specs of the video cards included in our review. As mentioned, we connected two Radeon HD 6870 in parallel, and the specs below are for only one video card. The Radeon HD 5970 has two GPUs, and the specs below are for only one of the GPUs (this video card has a total of 2 GB, 1 GB connected to each GPU).

Video Card

Core Clock

Shader Clock

Memory Clock (Real)

Memory Clock (Effective)

Memory Interface

Memory Transfer Rate

Memory

Shaders

Price

GeForce GTX 480

700

1,401 MHz

924 MHz

3,696 MHz

384-bit

177.4 GB/s

1.5 GB GDDR5

480

USD 450 - 510

GeForce GTX 580

772 MHz

1,544 MHz

1,002 MHz

4,008 MHz

384-bit

192.4 GB/s

1.5 GB GDDR5

512

USD 520 –580

Radeon HD 6870

900 MHz

900 MHz

1.05 GHz

4.2 GHz

256-bit

134.4 GB/s

1 GB GDDR5

1,120

USD 260 – 270

Radeon HD 5970

725 MHz

725 MHz

1 GHz

4 GHz

256-bit

128 GB/s

1 GB GDDR5

1,600

USD 500

Prices were researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review. All graphics chip listed above are DirectX 11 parts.